Hop filtering when dry hopping
- Thread starter Brian-d
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Personally I like to use stainless steel tea balls in my kegs. I use whole hops and hardly ever have any floaters. The only draw back is that you can't fit more than 1/2 ounce in them so I'd recommend using a couple at a time. Others have success putting a bag or screen over the end of their auto siphon to filter out the larger hop particles.
Righlander
Well-Known Member
ive thought about doing that before. i think i'm going to try it
They are such a pain in the a$$ in a carboy. I DO NOT miss those days of fishing out hop bags from my carboy. If its a bucket you would be in good shape. If you use a carboy, take my word, and don't even try. It's more of a headache than it's truly worth.
I just rack carefully- starting the siphon in the middle. The hop floaties usually are on top, or on the bottom. As the level of the beer lowers, I lower the siphon and stop when I start sucking up yeast/trub/not clear beer. It works great, without hops bags or stuff over my racking cane.
I tried using a paint strainer bag over the racking cane, but that clogged for me.
I tried using a paint strainer bag over the racking cane, but that clogged for me.
There was another thread on this recently that died pretty quickly. I never really got an answer to a question I asked - whether anyone had tried using a Jumbo size nylon grain bag (like the ones AHS sells) to line the interior of the bottling bucket. After siphoning into the bucket, just lift the bag out to remove the hop residue.
I've tried the bag over the end of the autosiphon in the carboy a couple of times - once it worked fine, the second time it clogged and I couldn't keep the siphon going - ended up with lots of air in my beer. I think next time (in about a week or 10 days) I'm going to try the bag in the bottling bucket on the receiving end this time. Has anyone tried this?
I've tried the bag over the end of the autosiphon in the carboy a couple of times - once it worked fine, the second time it clogged and I couldn't keep the siphon going - ended up with lots of air in my beer. I think next time (in about a week or 10 days) I'm going to try the bag in the bottling bucket on the receiving end this time. Has anyone tried this?
I use the paint strainer bag method. But then again, I use a bucket.
dstar26t
If it's worth doing, it's worth overdoing
This is for all beers:
I crash cool the fermenter to 30F for 48 hours after fermentation is fully finished. Then CO2 counter pressure transfer (with paint strainer bag over racking cane for dry hopped beers) to a keg with the stem cut (brite keg) and biofine waiting at the bottom. After a week at 30F in the brite keg, it gets counter pressure transferred to a serving keg and force carbed. If I'm bottle conditioning, the serving keg has priming sugar waiting in it (and yeast, depending on the beer) and bottles are filled immediately with a beergun from the keg and warmed.
Beers that are supposed to be cloudy go from the carboy straight to a serving keg, no brite keg needed.
I crash cool the fermenter to 30F for 48 hours after fermentation is fully finished. Then CO2 counter pressure transfer (with paint strainer bag over racking cane for dry hopped beers) to a keg with the stem cut (brite keg) and biofine waiting at the bottom. After a week at 30F in the brite keg, it gets counter pressure transferred to a serving keg and force carbed. If I'm bottle conditioning, the serving keg has priming sugar waiting in it (and yeast, depending on the beer) and bottles are filled immediately with a beergun from the keg and warmed.
Beers that are supposed to be cloudy go from the carboy straight to a serving keg, no brite keg needed.
I used a nylon bag around my racking cane and was careful not to distrurb the trub at the bottom. I used one of those elastic ties you use to tie up a turkey or chicken before roasting. Sanitized that and the bag. Wrapped it around the cane and it worked perfectly. Very clear beer and I did not have any trouble with it clogging up
Bottled my dry-hopped (in the primary) pale ale today and used the jumbo grain bag in the bottling bucket as mentioned in my post above. Just boiled the bag for a few minutes to sanitize, then put it in the bucket and folded it over the top. Put a bungee cord around the bucket to make sure that the bag wouldn't get pulled into the bucket, but I don't think I really needed it as there was a lot of overhang on the outside. The method worked beautifully - smooth transfer from the carboy, no blockages - the bag caught quite a bit of hop pellet residue, and there was none left in the bucket.
I added the priming solution after I removed the bag and then very gently stirred it in.
This worked so well that it will be my standard method for racking pellet dry-hopped beer from the carboy from now on.
I added the priming solution after I removed the bag and then very gently stirred it in.
This worked so well that it will be my standard method for racking pellet dry-hopped beer from the carboy from now on.
